American Mafia

The American Mafia, also known as the Italian Mafia, Mafia, or the Mob, is an organized Italian-American criminal society that originated in the late 19th century. The Mafia was formed in impoverished Italian neighborhoods of major cities such as New York City, Chicago, Boston, New Orleans, Los Angeles, and Miami, and many of its founders were born in either Sicily or southern Italy. During the 21st century, the Mafia had a strength of 2,000 made men and 50,000 associates, and it mostly operated in the major cities, especially ones with major Italian populations.

Organization
The Mafia was organized based on the Sicilian Mafia's traditions, with each gang being known as a "family". A family is led by a boss known as the Don, a man of respect, wealth, and power who is able to be an administrator in crime. Families typically consist of several tiers, starting with the Don, and then descending down the ranks; his adviser - the consigliere is the second-in-command; the Underboss is typically the heir to the family, although it can also be a senior leader; the caporegimes (or "capos" for short) are the Don's lieutenants who lead their own crews and have their own territories; the soldati (or "soldiers") are the Caporegimes' underlings who are protected by the family; the enforcers are hired muscle that work for soldati, but they do not have the same protection as them; associates are Mafia members who are of other ethnicities or have business partnerships with the Mob; and outsiders are people hoping to "make their bones" in the Mafia. Soldati and those above them are all "made men", men of pure Italian (traditionally Sicilian or Neapolitan) descent who swear oaths to honor omerta, the Mafia code that states that members cannot betray the family, at the cost of their lives.

Rise of the Mafia
The rise of the Mafia occurred in the early 20th century in New York City, when the Mafia emerged victorious over the Neapolitan Camorra, and the Sicilian crime bosses developed small street gangs into organized families with the Mafia structure. Lucky Luciano is considered to be the founder of the modern Mafia, as he organized the purge of the "Mustache Petes" (the old-fashioned, Italian-born mob bosses) and their replacement by younger and more American mobsters. Luciano also founded "The Commission", an unofficial body representing every Mafia family; the heads of the families would meet - typically in a hotel or a safehouse - and discuss issues to prevent gang warfare.

Extortion and corruption
The Mafia became a threat to law and order as their members began to extort businesses, forcing owners to pay them "protection" money to prevent the mobsters from wrecking the stores. The Mafia also became involved in illegal businesses such as bootlegging during the 1920s and 1930s, the narcotics trade, prostitution, and gambling, making them a threat to the legal system. One of the most famous mob bosses, Al Capone of the Chicago Outfit, smuggled alcohol into the USA from Canada, and he bribed officials and politicians in Chicago to let him do his business. The Mafia's involvement in corruption made it especially dangerous, as it had power over politicians, policemen, union officials, and influential people. In New York City, the "Five Families" developed into major organized crime syndicates, and mob murders were common on the streets of Brooklyn and other Italian-American areas on New York City during the mid-20th century. In addition, the Mafia extended its reach to cities like Tampa, Boston, Providence, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, New Orleans, and Las Vegas during the 1940s, and they ran several major businesses. Las Vegas grew from an oasis town in the Nevada desert into a casino city due to the Mafia's influence, and the Mafia controlled many of the casinos, nightclubs, and hotels for several decades.

Decline
The Mafia's power was shattered when a mafioso named Joseph Valachi broke omerta and testified before Congress in 1963, revealing the structure and codes of the Mafia. The Mafia had previously been investigated in the Kefauver Committee of 1950-1951, which had led to the start of the FBI investigation into the Mafia. However, the government struck a gold mine when Valachi decided to become an informant to save himself some jail time. Valachi gave details on the Mafia's murders, their rules, the organization and hierarchy, involvement in racketeering, and other incriminating facts, and he revealed that Mafia members called the group the "Costa Nostra", meaning "this thing of ours". Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy began a legal war on the Mafia, which was suspected of assassinating President John F. Kennedy that same year, and the FBI and other government agencies cracked down on the Mafia.

Fall
During the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, Mafia violence continued on a large scale, and Philadelphia and southern New Jersey were embroiled in mob warfare between rival factions of the Philadelphia crime family after Philip Testa's assassination in 1980. Many key Mafia leaders such as Sammy Gravano "turned states" and informed on their fellow mafiosi, leading to many of them entering prison or the Witness Protection Program. By the 1990s, African-American and Hispanic street gangs had become the main source of crime in America, with the Mafia dying out, at least as a violent group.